Zetta Elliott's Blog, page 127
January 31, 2010
what's in a challenge?
Do you participate in reading challenges? I don't, though I can see how it might be a useful, structured way to read outside your comfort zone. But does it have a lasting impact on the participant? Debbie Reese has an interesting post over at her blog, American Indians in Children's Literature; stop by and read her reservations about the effectiveness of the current People of Color Challenge. Is a free book the real incentive for folks who sign up to "read brown"?
On Friday I went up to...
January 28, 2010
life-changing books
Susan recently announced the latest Diversity Roll Call assignment: "I want us to shift from the importance of representation and focus on how difference or a different perspective changed us in a meaningful way. Have you ever read a book and the character's perspective opened you to ideas, beliefs or realities that you had never considered? Tell us about a work or an author whose body of work changed how you looked at the world, others or yourself. Have you read ever read a book and had a...
January 26, 2010
January 25, 2010
what IS "street lit"?
About a month ago, my publisher got a request for a review copy of A Wish After Midnight. We were pretty excited–Wish was going to be featured in Library Journal! But when I found out my novel would be reviewed in a "street lit" column, I balked—there's NO WAY my book fits within that category! Just a glance at some of those covers made me cringe. Then I visited their site and found this definition, which helped me prove my point:
Typical elements include a rags-to-riches theme...
January 24, 2010
don't stop believing
Not gonna lie—I can probably sing most of Journey's songs b/c I was a teenager in the '80s and know all the words by heart. And face it—that's a seriously uplifting song (and you have to hear the band's new Filipino singer, Arnel, rock-it-out!). Right now, though, I'm talking about the whitewashing controversy—please don't think the problem's been solved now that Bloomsbury is working on a new cover for Magic Under Glass. Susan and Ari are sharing ways you can keep fighting the good...
January 23, 2010
life
My Horn Book essay comes out in March; this is one of the (very few) lines that wound up getting cut:
My favorite line from The Sound of Music: 'When God closes a door, somewhere He opens a window.' Canada, for me, was a windowless room.
But then I moved to NYC, and suddenly I was in a house filled with endless doors and windows—some opened for me, some did not. But I always felt I had options, that I could make something happen. Yesterday, right before my USA Today interview, I got an...
